I'll be choosing a blend based on a sampling I did about a month ago. The raspberries will bring a lot of acidity and complexity to the beer so I'm going to choose a blend that is a bit more mild on it's own. I've chosen the following beers:
- Fermenter #6:
- Overview:
- Aged with ECY 34 Dirty Dozen
- Pilsner and Flaked Wheat Malt bill
- No hops in this batch
- Aged in a glass carboy with 2 gal of head space
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Slightly earthy aroma along with a bit of mineral. Very mild smelling
- Appearance: Light gold and very clear
- Flavor: Medium level of sourness. Bready malt with some brett funk (bandaid like)
- Mouthfeel: Light bodied and very dry. Slight prickling
- Overall: Fairly bold flavors but not very complex
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #7
- Overview:
- Beer has been aged with Wyeast 3278 Belgian Lambic Blend
- Prior to this it spent a few months on my Belgian Yeast and Lacto house culture
- Made with a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
- No hops
- Aged with some toasted oak that I soaked in Chardonnay
- Kept in a Bucket Fermenter with a solid stopper
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Light fruity and wine like aroma mixed with a bit of earthyness
- Appearance: Straw colored and very murky. Quite a bit of yeast in suspension - I may have drawn from too deep in the fermenter.
- Flavor: Medium sourness with a citrus and fruity character. Has a bit of malt character in the background along with a slight earthy brett character
- Mouthfeel: Light-medium bodied. Dry with a slight prickling.
- Overall: This is a really ugly looking beer but the flavors are pretty bold and quite nice. Not a whole lot of complexity
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #9:
- Overview:
- Aged with ECY 34 Dirty Dozen. This is the second pitch
- Grainbill is a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
- No hops in this batch
- Aged in a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Slightly fruity (overripe) with a bit of brett funk. Maybe smells a bit like a white wine.
- Appearance: Light gold and pretty clear
- Flavor: Lightly sour with a fruity flavor and a bit of earthy brett character. It has a bit of bready malt in the finish.
- Mouthfeel: Light and dry. Pretty smooth drinking. Leaves the mouth kind of sticky somehow (or maybe that's due to how many beers I've tasted so far).
- Overall: Nice bold flavors with a nice level of sourness and complexity
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #10:
- Overview:
- Aged with Omega Yeast OYL-212 Brett Blend #3: Bring on Da Funk
- Soured a portion of the batch with Omega Yeast OYL-605 Lactobacillus Blend (L. Plantarum and L. Brevis)
- Mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat
- No hops
- Aged in a bucket fermenter with a vented silicone bung
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Fruity with a bit of cheesy funk. Has a sort of wine like aroma.
- Appearance: Light gold and a bit cloudy
- Flavor: Fairly firm sourness. Citrus fruit fairly bold followed by a bit of earthy brett.
- Mouthfeel: Light and dry. Slight prickling
- Overall: This one is pretty boldly flavored but not really that complex
- Volume:
- 1 gal
- Fermenter #12:
- Overview:
- Brewed with Bootleg Biology Funk Weapon #3
- Grainbill was a mix of Pilsner and Raw Wheat. To attempt to better simulate a cereal mash I drew off a quart of very starchy wort from the cereal mash and added this to the boil
- No hops in this batch
- Aged in a bucket with a solid bung
- Tasting Notes:
- Aroma: Musty and funky aroma along with a slight fruity character
- Appearance: Golden and slightly cloudy
- Flavor: Lightly sour with some fruity flavors and a bit of brett funk
- Mouthfeel: Light-medium bodied and slightly sweet. Smooth drinking
- Overall: Fairly mild in flavor but it has some interesting and fairly unique elements compared with the other beers.
- Volume:
- 1 gal
Blending Notes:
- 10-13-19 - Blending Day
- Mixed up about 5 gal of beer in a 7.5 gal bucket fermenter
- Added 20 lbs of frozen raspberries. Ended up with a bit too much beer in the mix. Transferred off about half a gal to a gal jug to drink now
- 5/31/20 - Bottled with 1.5 lb of invert #2 and some rehydrated Red Star Champagne yeast. Got 6+ gal which netted me 63 bottles. I will pasteurize this beer before all the sugar is eaten and over carbs the beer.
- 6/16/20 - The beer has reached a good level of carbonation so I pasteurized this evening in a water bath that started at 180 F. Let them sit for 30 min (settled down to 130 F in that time). No exploded bottles thankfully.
- 5/14/22 - Tasting Notes - Very intensely flavored fruit beer. The raspberry is front and center here. I make a Raspberry Wine, which I just drank a bottle of last night (so fresh in my mind, and would say this beer is much closer in character to that wine than to the Sour Blonde but that there is enough beer character that shines through to clearly make this a distinct product. There is some brett character to beer that gives it some nice extra complexity and it compliments the overall product.
